Double Trouble Early Years

Click on the date to show the setlist, where available.

IntroductionIn May 1978, Triple Threat Revues bassist, W.C. Clark left to form his own group and Stevie renamed the band Double Trouble. Following the recruitment of bassist Jackie Newhouse, drummer Freddie Walden left the band in July, and was briefly replaced by Jack Moore, who had moved to Texas from Boston. He performed with the band for about two months, before Stevie met Chris Layton through his roommate. Layton, who had recently parted ways with Greezy Wheels, was taught by Stevie to play a shuffle rhythm. When Stevie offered Layton the position, he accepted.

After Lou Ann Barton quit Double Trouble in mid-November 1979, Stevie signed a management contract and also hired Robert "Cutter" Brandenburg as road manager, whom he had met in 1969. Addressing him as Stevie Ray, Brandenburg convinced Vaughan to use his middle name on stage.

In October 1980, bassist Tommy Shannon attended a Double Trouble performance at Rockefeller's in Houston. Shannon, who was playing with Alan Haynes at the time, participated in a jam session with Stevie Vaughan and Chris halfway through their set. Shannon later commented: "I went down there that night, and I'll never forget this: it was like, when I walked in the door and I heard them playing, it was like a revelation—'That's where I want to be; that's where I belong, right there.' During the break, I went up to Stevie and told him that. I didn't try to sneak around and hide it from the bass player [Jackie Newhouse] - I didn't know if he was listening or not. I just really wanted to be in that band. I sat in that night and it sounded great." Almost three months later, when Vaughan offered Shannon the position, he readily accepted.